Tracking Down Leads

NEWPORT NEWS — Police fanned out in parts of the city to work the cases of recent shootings, and to get guns and drugs off the streets.

Police pulled a wad of $50 and $100 bills amounting to nearly $1,000 out of the man's pockets. In his car, they found some marijuana and a box of small plastic baggies.

The man was stopped Friday on suspicion of dealing drugs in front of the convenience store that 17-year-old Michael Zylberberg Jr. had just left when he was gunned down March 31. Police didn't find evidence to charge the man with dealing, but they wrote him a summons for the charge of marijuana possession.

The stop was part of a police effort to track down leads in Zylberberg's killing and three other homicides that remain unsolved since late March. Fifty officers -- many of them shifted from other assignments -- were sent to patrol the southeast area on Friday. Their goal, police said, was to get guns and drugs off the streets, and to reach out to people who might have information about the homicides.

Visible from where the man was handcuffed on the corner, red and white flowers marked the spot in front of a gate on Chestnut Avenue where Zylberberg was fatally shot in what police say was a case of mistaken identity.

Police made a number of drug arrests

throughout the day Friday. They also made arrests for trespassing when they

found groups of young men hanging out where they shouldn't have been. But at least on the morning shift, they didn't get any leads into the killings they hope to solve. The most recent was a double-homicide two blocks away, at 23rd Street and Orcutt Avenue.

Police Chief James Fox spoke Friday morning across the street from the front porch where Christopher Horton, 16, and Brian Dean, 20, were shot May 10. He urged community members who know something about the crimes to come forward. And he promised that officers would work to rout out drug crimes that lead to violence.

"With drugs, you see guns. With guns, you see violence. Put it all together, and you don't have a safe community," Fox said.

It's been unusually quiet in the neighborhood since the double-shooting two weeks ago, said Johnny Doggett.

The 79-year-old has lived in the house across the street from the crime scene since 1962.

He's seen the neighborhood deteriorate for decades, as drug dealing and crime forced homeowners into hiding.

"It was a mess out here," Doggett said, looking across the flowers of his perfectly manicured garden and onto the porch across the street, a home now abandoned. "You can't say nothing to them, because you don't know what they've got in their pocket. It got so bad one time, I thought I was going to move."

Fox warns that officers might be at an impasse without cooperation from the community. No one has yet been willing to identify the shooters in the double-homicide.

"There's no doubt the people on the porch knew them, and others know them, too," Fox said. "These people aren't leaving the community. We're going to work hard to prevent criminals from holding our community hostage."

People shouldn't be afraid to talk to the police, said Lt. Lorenzo Sheppard, who heads the police department's robbery and homicide division.

"Our detectives understand that these people have to come back here and live and work every day," Sheppard said. "We have to protect their safety first."

If the police don't get the information they need, Fox said, he'll consider pushing for a grand jury that could compel possible witnesses to answer questions under oath.

"Things are quieter, but the murderers are still on the street. We need the community's help," he said. "We want to see people with guns off the streets. That's what the community wants, too."

Police have been patrolling regularly since the homicides, and now the shooting crowd seems to be in hiding, Doggett said.

"We're loving it. You could hear a needle drop on the ground," he said. "I don't know how long it's going to last, but I hope it lasts." *

YOU CAN HELP

Even small bits of information can help police piece together the crime and get the evidence they need without calling a witness in to court, said Lt. Lorenzo Sheppard.

If you have any information about any of the homicides in Newport News, call the Crime Line at 1-888-LOCK-U-UP (1-888-562-5887).